These Are the Days of Love and Life
by staticsky
Summary: Max knows she's going to like the coffee shop. She knows she's going to practically be living there - her roommate is, well, less than ideal. What she doesn't know is that she's going to fall for the blue-haired barista who's quickly become one of her best friends.
1. The First Two Days

From day one, Max knows she's going to love this coffee shop. Well, she knew already; it had all started when, during the orientation camp she'd attended, they'd offered free samples of their coffee complete with the syrup concoction they referred to as "Secret Sauce". Max was _hooked_. After settling in and doing her best to acclimate to her dorm for a few days, she finds herself taking the short walk over to Two Whales Coffee at long last, lugging her laptop, camera bag, and sketchbook with her.

There's a bell over the door, and as coffee shop door bells go it's a pretty nice-sounding one. The second she's inside, Max breathes in the atmosphere of the place – wood floors that thump slightly under her feet, brick walls, the obligatory merchandise, the cold-brew setup constantly going, all twisting glass and glinting a bit in the light from the window.

"Welcome to Two Whales Coffee!" greets the barista currently lounging behind the counter. He's got messy brown hair that falls over his forehead just a bit, and a wide grin, and a shirt with the Triforce on it, half-hidden beneath an apron. His voice is easy-going but at the same time eager and excited.

Max smiles back, heading up to the counter and fishing through her camera bag for her wallet.

"What can I get for you?" he asks, his attempt at professionalism not half-bad.

Squinting up at the hand-written menu, Max considers her options. "What's best here?"

"Everything," he replies, and she can tell it's not a scripted response; he really means everything is good. He does seem like one of those people who'd try everything on the menu to find out so he could do his job well.

Max laughs a bit. "Okay, narrowing it down. What's the best thing that's got espresso in it?"

He drums his fingers on the counter, considering. "My personal favorite is the No Bull. Basically a latte, but we add in our Secret Sauce. I recommend the 20 oz, personally. The more, the better."

"Sold," Max says, pulling out her card. The barista grins, accepting it and swiping it through the reader connected to what looks like an iPad. He spins the apparatus around, producing a cup almost at the same moment.

"Sign here – oh, and what's your name?" he asks, uncapping and then deftly spinning a sharpie between his fingers.

"Max," she replies. She uses a finger to scrawl her name on the digital dotted line.

"Cool name." He scribbles it down on the cup. "Nice to meet you, Max. I'm Warren."

She gives him a friendly handshake across the counter, and then Warren's off to the machine. She watches, replacing her card and dropping the wallet back into her bag, as he presses the espresso, then sticks it into the machine. He steams the milk with one hand while pulling a double shot with the other. Max gets the impression that he's worked here for a while, although his apron says otherwise – she's been in enough coffee shops to identify a veteran barista by how well-loved their apron looks. Warren's is pristine (maybe he's just washed it, but it looks pretty damn new).

"Here you go!" He's suddenly in front of her, sliding the drink across the counter with another grin. "See you around, Max."

"See you around," she replies, smiling back, picking up the cup, and heading outside to find a comfortable table near an outlet.

Outside, in the deck area, she spots a perfect corner and drops her bags onto the seat, making herself comfortable on the worn cushion. She drags out her laptop, plugs it in as it boots up, then opens a word processor with a scowl.

The coffee shop's good – the paper that's due in a couple days not so much. She straightens her glasses and gets to work.

* * *

The caffeine seemed to have helped her focus, and the drink with secret sauce was as fantastic as she remembered, so when she goes back the next day it's her plan to order the same thing.

This time, Warren's not working. Instead, the barista's a tall, thin girl, beanie covering most of what appears to be bright blue hair. She's got a tank top on, which reveals a tattoo all down her right arm, spiraling flowers and vines surrounding a skull. As the bell above the door chimes, her face lights up and she grins at Max. "Hey," she says simply.

"Hi," Max replies, trying not to blush – this girl is cute, and really, she can't blame herself for that observation.

"I'm Chloe," she offers immediately.

"Max."

"Hella nice to meet you, Max." She idly spins the iPad setup around a couple times. "What can I get for you?"

Max glances up at the menu, although she has the order memorized already. "Can I get a No Bull? 20 oz."

"No Bull it is," Chloe responds, tapping the display a couple times. Max hands over the card, Chloe swipes it – Max notices her nails are painted the same blue as her hair – and hands it back to her, indicating for her to sign. Max does so as Chloe scrawls "MAX" on the cup in large letters and immediately sets to work.

She's even better than Warren at balancing all the steps involved in making the drink, and Max watches in fascination as she pours the espresso and the milk at the same time, leaving a leaf-shaped pattern on the top of the foam.

"Here you go!" Her voice is cheerful as she hands Max the drink. Max jumps; she'd been studying the leaf pattern closely, fumbling blindly through her bag for her polaroid camera. The others in her photography class had called it "way too old school" until she'd gotten the top grade in the entire class on their first project, and then their second, and so on. One of them had even tried getting a polaroid camera of their own, but their grade hadn't come close to Max's.

Chloe laughs a bit when Max pulls the camera out and snaps a picture of the leaf pattern. "Cool camera," she says, and Max thinks she's being sarcastic until she sees the sincere look on Chloe's face and processes the tone she'd used. Surprise, not derision. "My dad used to use one of those. Brings back good memories. Haven't seen one in a while, though."

"I like it – it's, well, old school. There's something different about the way the pictures come out."

"That what you're studying?" Chloe asks. "Photography?"

"And art, yeah."

"That's hella cool."

Max smiles, snapping a lid onto the cup with a bit of regret. The picture's nearly developed, and she examines it for a moment. Chloe bends over it as well. "That really is a nice shot."

"Thanks."

"Well, guess I'll see you around, then?" She sounds hopeful, and Max nods. She likes Chloe; she feels comfortable here at Two Whales even though she's only briefly met two of the baristas. More comfortable than she feels in her dorm, anyway. Once she's out the door to the deck area she makes a face, hoping Lisa will be asleep by the time she makes it back to the dorm. Max really doesn't want to deal with 'the doommate', as she's dubbed her, any more than she has to.

She glances over her shoulder at the sign displaying the shop's hours to confirm that the place closes at midnight. It does, and she breathes a sigh of relief, once again settling into her already-preferred corner.

 _Not a bad day_ , she thinks, even as she pulls up the half-finished paper. Taking a sip of her coffee, she blinks. It's definitely the same drink as the day before, but it's somehow better. She's not precisely sure why, but it's on another level than Warren's. With a shrug, she sets to work.

* * *

 **A/N: I know, I know, the college AU and the coffee shop AU have been done a million times. But I have a weakness for it, and for Pricefield. I've also got some stories from my (short) time at college and my equally-short time as a barista. Figured I may as well put them to good use. I shamelessly stole the drink's name and the "Secret Sauce" from the coffee shop I frequented at college.**

 **Hopefully I'll start writing everyone better as I get used to it. Also, I apologize for any mistakes I wasn't able to catch - if you see any, feel free to point them out.**

 **Title is from the song Destination, by Imagine Dragons.**

 **Planning on updating twice a week (Sunday / Wednesday), although life may occasionally intervene.**


	2. A Step Forward

When Max wanders into the shop for a third time, she's greeted by the sight of a yet another barista – a smaller girl, hair piled perfectly on top of her head. She's the most professional employee of Two Whales Max has run into so far – further evidenced by Chloe, who is practically waltzing around the seating area with a rag in hand.

Max watches her for a minute. She's not poised, not by any means, but she has a sort of easy grace to her movements that Max hadn't noticed before, when she was just behind the counter making the drinks. She thinks Chloe's a bit taller than her – okay, maybe more than a bit. Her beanie's off today, showing off strawberry blonde roots fading into purple and then into what Max has already dubbed Chloe's trademark blue.

She's also got a necklace on today; it catches the light as she turns and hurriedly scrubs down another table. It looks like it's three bullets on a long cord; it suits her, for some reason, although Max isn't sure why she already has that impression.

Max blinks, noticing the girl behind the counter watching. "I – uh – sorry," she stammers. Fuck, am I blushing?

Fortunately, Kate – Max learns her name when she orders her usual – didn't seem to notice anything strange, and hands her the drink with a friendly smile. Max smiles back and heads to her usual spot.

The Two Whales is typically moderately busy, she's learned. Students come in and out throughout the day, getting their in-between-class caffeine fix or looking for a good place to study and have a bite to eat. The shop's got a small selection of baked goods, and a few varieties of sandwiches. Nothing fancy, but as far as coffee shop food goes it's not bad.

Admittedly, Max has eaten the Two Whales food for dinner for the past two nights – it wasn't worth heading back to the dorm cafeteria. She didn't want to run into Lisa and have to offer an awkward explanation for why she's been essentially avoiding her for the past few days. "I've been busy" doesn't really cut it when you live in the same room.

She's halfway through her No Bull and a third of the way through the assigned reading for one of her photography classes when she's startled by the deck door rattling open and slamming shut with a loud thud.

Blinking, Max finds herself looking up at Chloe, who has reached into her pocket and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. The sun catches it perfectly as she flips it end over end, and Max wishes she'd been able to get a picture. It would've been beautiful.

"Don't worry, Max, I'm not gonna smoke in here," Chloe says with a small wave. "Just passing through."

Max blinks again. She realizes that Chloe's remembered her name – although to be fair, she'd heard her give it to Kate maybe twenty minutes earlier.

She wonders if she'll become an official regular if she keeps showing up at the Two Whales every day. It's been on her bucket list for a while now, and here is as good a place as any to cross that off.

She's made more progress on both her drink and the reading when Chloe comes back through the deck area. She's wearing a pair of sturdy boots, and they thump against the protesting deck boards. It's a purposeful sound – Max isn't much of a poet, but she can appreciate little things like that.

* * *

"Oh – hey. You're still here, Max?"

Max jumps, her glasses slipping slightly down the bridge of her nose before she manages to push them back up again. "Y-yeah, I am," she responds.

"Didn't mean to startle you." Chloe leans against a table across the aisle. "You've been here for a while. Sure you don't want another drink?"

She hasn't even considered it for some reason – her work is apparently more engrossing than she'd expected. "Uh, sure – one sec." She rummages through her bag for her wallet and follows Chloe inside.

"No Bull again?" the blue-haired girl asks, and Max nods. "Hella risky, you know, Max; it's like nine at night."

"Are you cereal?" Max says without thinking, and Chloe snorts. "Old habit," she mutters, to which Chloe looks even more amused.

"Yeah, I'm cereal. It's like nine fifteen, dude – you sure you want this much espresso?"

Max shrugs. "I'm still studying, and I haven't had a problem with caffeine before."

The ghost of a grin passes over Chloe's face; just as quickly it's gone, as she scribbles "MAX" on the cup and sets to work. More curious than before, Max watches – Kate's drink had tasted almost exactly like Warren's, and she'd watched Kate make the drink – was Chloe making it any differently? Then again, maybe it had been a fluke.

She fought back a chuckle at the pun.

A minute later, Chloe slides her newly-made No Bull across the counter. Max notices that instead of the leaf, the pattern looks a lot more like a flower this time.

"Gonna snap a picture?" the barista asks, and Max nods, pulling out her camera and framing the shot. "Figured I'd change it up a bit, since you like your photos and all."

Max's mouth twists into a smile again. For some reason, she's finding herself smiling a lot more at the Two Whales than anywhere else. Especially around Chloe, although she chalks that up to Chloe being the one who's made the most effort to strike up a bit of a friendship.

It's nice, she supposes, since she hasn't been able to make many friends around campus. It's a bit awkward with Lisa in the picture. Max always feels uncomfortable when one of her friends shows up at her dorm to head somewhere, while Lisa never does. The girl is nice, but there's not all that much of an effort on her part to make friends aside from Max. She's too focused on studying, so she's put down roots in the room, and seems to be staying there.

Max sighs, snapping the lid on the drink. The coffee's trapped, just like her.

Melodramatic much?

"Something up, Mad Max?"

Again, Max is startled into blinking. It's day two of knowing Chloe, and already she's got a nickname? "Oh – no, just tired, I guess."

Honestly, it's better that she doesn't get into details of her already-vaguely-harrowing roommate experiences with someone she barely knows.

Once she's settled in, she takes a sip of the coffee. Once again, it's a level beyond Warren and Kate's. Chloe definitely seems to have some sort of bizarre coffee-making talent.

When the shop closes at midnight, Max regretfully packs up her things. As she heads out, she hears a cheerful "See you around, Max!" from behind the counter. Turning, she sees Chloe waving, cleaning rag still in hand. Uncurling her hand from around her camera bag strap, Max waves back.

Maybe she's got a shot at this whole friends thing after all.

* * *

 **A/N:** **I know I said I'd be updating twice a week, but I figured for now I'll do one a day up through chapter 4, since I'm behind on posting it over here. Anyway, expect the update schedule to go back to Sunday/Wednesday soon, but up through chapter 5 enjoy a chapter a day!**

 **If you're interested, you can find me on Tumblr at lighthouserain!**


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